Year end remarks from Brian Sabean as the SF Giants season closes in San Francisco , Calif., on Monday, October 5, 2009.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Year end remarks from Brian Sabean as the SF Giants season closes...

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San Francisco Giants' Edgar Renteria heads to the dugout after batting a ground ball against the Florida Marlins in the first inning of a baseball game Miami. Thursday, May 6, 2010.

Photo: Alan Diaz, AP

San Francisco Giants' Edgar Renteria heads to the dugout after...

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San Francisco Giants' Mark DeRosa fouls a pitch from Pittsburgh Pirates' D.J. Carrasco during the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, April 12, 2010, in San Francisco.

Photo: Ben Margot, AP

San Francisco Giants' Mark DeRosa fouls a pitch from Pittsburgh...

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OAKLAND, CA - MAY 22: Pablo Sandoval #48 of the San Francisco Giants reacts after losing to the Oakland Athletics during an MLB game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on May 22, 2010 in Oakland, California.

Over the weekend, as the Giants were exposed and embarrassed in Oakland, they passed the quarter point of the season, a benchmark that teams often use to assess their progress.

They have played enough games, and the hitters have enough at-bats and the pitchers enough innings, to make the statistics meaningful. After 43 games, the Giants are 22-21 and have lost five in a row. They have not scored in 2o innings.

On Saturday morning, before the back-to-back shutouts by the A's, The Chronicle asked general manager Brian Sabean to assess what he saw over the first quarter of the season. He described a team that needs to improve in all areas, not just run production, which is more obvious. He suggested the Giants might not surpass their 88 wins from last season but still could win the division if they finally get their projected lineup on the field and everyone plays to the potential that Sabean envisions.

He expressed doubt that he or any GM in the National League West will be able to settle the division with a July trade, and offered his thoughts on San Diego's stranglehold on his team:

Q:What has surprised you during the first part of the season, positively and negatively?

A: The most positive thing is we're only (3 1/2) games out in the division. It's obviously a muddled division. All the teams in it are flawed to a certain extent. It's only May and we really haven't had our 'A' lineup out there.

"The flip side is, if you look by categories there's room for improvement everywhere. The starters need to throw some more strikes. When we attack the strike zone, we're fine. But we've been prone to some free passes. The relievers are still getting used to their roles and we've needed to make some adjustments on the fly. They have a losing record at this point. Defensively, we're ranked first but we've had a hard time turning double plays. That has to improve. And our baserunning in some games has been shoddy and cost us an inning or cost us a run or even a game.

"Each area is still evolving. I didn't make too much of a 7-2 start as much as I take notice that right now we're playing like a .500 team, and that certainly is not going to be good enough. We have to get our act together. We got Edgar Renteria back today, and hopefully we'll get Mark DeRosa back next week and get the lineup we thought we were going to have in the offseason most days or five days a week, and there'll be more of a semblance of order to everything.

Q:How concerned are you that Pablo Sandoval's struggles are not a slump, and more that pitchers have figured him out and he is not adjusting?

A: It could be a slump. Who's to say you're not susceptible to that at any given point of the season, including early in the year? But we've seen how good he is. I do agree that adjustments have been made in how they're attacking him. But he's got a lot on his plate. He's a young kid. He has high expectations on his own and from people inside and outside the organization. He's a guy at a young age (who) is in the middle of our order for a reason, which is what we saw of him in the past. It's a game of adjustments and he's in the process and he's trying to do that. The one thing I'll say, his defense couldn't be better. If anything, he's one of the better defensive third basemen we've seen. He's made virtually every play.

Q:There's a perception in a tight division that the guy who wins it might be the general manager who makes the best move by the July trade deadline. Do you agree?

A: I don't necessarily buy that. There are not enough players to go around. It's more what you can do today to keep your team moving forward, knowing the cavalry might not come and you might not be in a position to secure a player in a trade. Teams are less apt to trade for free agents-to-be, especially with premium talent. It's really a matter of how you tweak your roster and try to solve your problems internally. That doesn't preclude us being involved in trade possibilities looking forward to the deadline.

Q:What do you make of the team's start against San Diego, which is at the heart of a 4-12 record against the West?

A: They've pitched extremely well against us. They've gone right after us and we haven't responded. Some of that goes back to last year. Their confidence level against us is high, and we're going to have to find every way possible to change that. The fortunate thing is that it is May and we're (3 1/2 games out) being 1-7 against them. There's plenty of time to turn that around, and we know we're going to play them later in the year when hopefully it really will count.

Q:You were an 88-74 team last year. Do you still feel with the personnel you have you can be better than 88-74 this year?

A: I really don't know that. If the division plays true to this, we have four or five teams with a chance to win and there's a good chance to beat each other up a lot, and maybe 88 wins is the best you can do. The goal is to win the division. That's what it takes. San Diego won the division with, what, 82 wins (in 2005)? St. Louis won a World Series after winning 83 games? We know that we're challenged in certain areas and we're going to have to improve.

"I know we're probably not going to have the, quote, best team in the division per se. That doesn't matter all that much if you find a way to play the best. That's all we're trying to do; play to our potential, play the best baseball we can and see where that takes us. The effort's been there. The attitude has been there. Again, we've been challenged because we have not had all our pieces in order. We need to do that because we have a bear of a stretch before the All-Star break that may define exactly what's going to happen to our season. We play 18 of 24 on the road. Before that part of the schedule hits, we're going to have to have a lot of things in better shape.